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An atom loses an electron after absorbing some electromagnetic radiation - OCR Gateway - GCSE Physics - Question 13 - 2021 - Paper 1
Question 13
An atom loses an electron after absorbing some electromagnetic radiation. Which row of the table describes what happens? | Energy of electron | Charge on the atom ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:An atom loses an electron after absorbing some electromagnetic radiation - OCR Gateway - GCSE Physics - Question 13 - 2021 - Paper 1
Step 1
Energy of electron decreases; Charge on the atom becomes positive
Answer
When an atom absorbs electromagnetic radiation, it can lose one of its electrons. This process increases the overall energy of the atom, leading to an electron being removed from the energy levels associated with the atom. As a result:
- The Energy of the electron: In this case, the energy of the electron that was lost from the atom increases, as it has absorbed energy to overcome the binding forces.
- The Charge on the atom: As the atom loses a negatively charged electron, it becomes positively charged since it now has a surplus of protons compared to electrons.
Based on the options presented, the correct row that describes this situation, where the energy of the electron increases and the charge of the atom becomes positive, is therefore Row D.